Skutt Sweeps Aurora, Gross

OMAHA - When Omaha Skutt shifted into another gear Tuesday night, neither Aurora nor Omaha Gross had an answer for the Skyhawks.

Skutt, ranked #2 in Class B, improved to 29-2 on the year with convincing wins over #5 Aurora (25-10, 25-16) and host Omaha Gross (25-13, 25-16) in a triangular. In the first match of the night, Aurora defeated Omaha Gross 25-11, 21-25, 25-16.

After Aurora started the evening with its win over Gross, Skutt jumped all over the Huskies at the start of their match. The Skyhawks had runs of 5-0, 7-0 and 6-0 during the first set in building a 20-4 lead on a kill by Kansas State recruit Brooke Heyne. After the teams traded service errors, Aurora made some noise late in the set with a 5-1 run behind two kills from South Dakota recruit Kiley Hixson, an ace serve from Brooke Williams and an ace block by Jasa Scheierman to make it 22-10. Kills by Heyne, McKenna Kirkpatrick and a double-hit by Aurora, however, gave Skutt the first set 25-10.

The second set was more competitive as Aurora cut the Skutt lead to 11-9 early on another kill by Hixson, but Skutt made it 14-9 on a kill by Heyne and ace blocks from Allison Schomers and Kirkpatrick and never lead by less than four points the remainder of the way in a 25-16 win.

Alyssa Woodman led the Skyhawks with nine kills in the match while Hixson finished with a match-high 11 for the Huskies.

In the triangular finale, Omaha Gross came out with a lot of emotion and was able to take a 6-5 lead early in the first set, but Skutt was able to find another gear and went on a 12-1 run to pull away to a 17-7 lead en route to a 25-13 first-set victory. It took the Skyhawks a little longer to find the next gear in the second set as a kill by Mary Tisko pulled Gross within 16-15. Skutt, however, would finish the set on a 9-1 run behind the serving of Schomers and a pair of kills from Kirkpatrick to win the match 25-13, 25-16.

Kirkpatrick finished the match with nine kills for Skutt and Woodman had eight. Gross was led by Kelsey Beaudin's six kills.

Omaha Skutt travels to Class B #4 Elkhorn South on Thursday while Aurora is next in action on Saturday at the Norris triangular, which also includes Nebraska City, and Omaha Gross plays at Millard South on Thursday.